Blogging Beirut

alas, ladies and gentlegents, i'll be away this weekend, so no updates on what's what and who's who.

we will be attempting a crossing of the mediterranean, from beirut to paphos (cyprus) to antalia (turkey) und back.

full documentary to follow - next week.


Trip Details

Purpose:

- To Inaugurate a Captain & ReConnect with our Phoenician Roots

Passenger List:

- Labneh
- Nicole
- Flower Power
- Capitaine LuLu
- Sporto Kantes
- Liz Toots
- The Dude

Map of Expected Course:




tags: phoenicians, lebanon, lebanese, paphos, cyprus, antalia, turkey, beirut, sailing, boat, yacht, mediterranean, trip, june 2008, map, course, documentary, blogging beirut

-finkployd- Blogging Beirut Mediterranean Sailing

What's become of Naharnet?

A front page, main story spelling error... breeches = underwear



tags: naharnet, lebanon newspaper, lebanese newspaper, portal, beirut, spelling error, downfall

-finkployd- Downfall on Blogging Beirut

TYRE, Lebanon (AFP) - Almost half of the areas in southern Lebanon contaminated with cluster bombs dropped by Israel in 2006 have been cleared, a UN official said on Wednesday.

"Forty three percent of the areas affected by the cluster bombs dropped during the July 2006 war have been cleared", UN Mine Action Coordination Centre for South Lebanon spokeswoman Dalya Farran said.

"Efforts are currently underway to clean 49 percent of the contaminated areas," she told AFP, adding that work has yet to begin in eight percent of the affected areas.

She said 970 contaminated sites had been found in an area spanning 39 million square meters (420 million square feet).

Since the war's end in August 2006, cluster bombs have caused "256 civilian casualties between deaths and injuries," according to Farran.

She added that there have also been 51 casualties from the Lebanese army and international forces in the area.

Farran said Israel had to make known "the number of bombs that were dropped as well as their locations."

"Israel not yet responded to this repeated request from the United Nations so far," Farran said.

The United Nations has repeatedly asked Israel to provide a map of the locations of cluster bombs and mines in southern Lebanon in order to facilitate clearing efforts.

The United Nations says Israel dropped about one million bombs on Lebanon between July 12 and August 14, 2006, and that 40 percent of them did not explode when they hit the ground. Most of them are located in towns and fields in southern Lebanon.

tags: cluster bombs, lebanon, israeli, 2006 war, fascism, mass murder, war crimes, lebanese, south lebanon, 1 million bombs, israeli war crimes, united nations

After launching the concept of CLEAN MOBILITY - Slow travel " , visiting 10 villages in a responsible way this summer 2008, let me announce the trips. Among the 10 villages we will discover together, using public transportation, are: Chebaa(South), Mezyara (North), Douma (el-Batroun), EL-Barouk (esh-Shouf), EL-Menjez (Aakkar), Niha el-Beqaa (Central Beqaa), Aaitanit (Ouest Beqaa) ...

The first destination is the village of Chebaa scheduled for this Sunday June 08, 08; we are proud to begin with a southern destination as a sign of solidarity and support.

As mentioned this series of trips are slow, authentic and very close to local communities; we will use public transportation to reach the villages; this sunday we will gather at Cola bus stop point, at 07h00 AM, and we will take the bus from Beirut to Hasbayya , and we shift buses at Hasbayya to end up at Chebaa.

Note: The persons holding foreign passports or nationalities are invited to send me a copy of their passport by fax to the following number (00 961 4 91 00 17), the latest by Wednesday, in order to provide them with a Laissez-passer permit to the region.

Village 1: Details and Information PDF

Clean Mobility - An Overview PDF

tags: clean mobility, ecotourism, green tourism, lebanon, lebanese, south lebanon, chebaa, hasbayaa, beirut, public transportation, village 1, pdf, eco-tourism

-finkployd- Eco-Tourism on Blogging Beirut

Week 20 Lebanon Economic Report - Full PDF

Week 21 Lebanon Economic Report - Full PDF

Week 22 Lebanon Economic Report - Full PDF

(Week 22's Main Highlights after the jump)

bye bye Basement!

Saturday night was Basement's 3rd Birthday, and its last day - literally.

I'll write an Ode soon, but for now, you'll have to make do with these 2 videos from the evening.

Uncut, Unedited, as is.

one hour (over 200 megabytes) of raw footage



(Part 2 after the jump)

Here's a large collection of videos of boys trampoline diving into a backyard pool from a week back taken with my Casio EX-F1 at 300 frames per second.
Enjoy!

Trampoline




(9 more videos after the jump!)

so on sunday they elected the new president - we happened to be in batroun having lunch at jammal - samak wou 2raydis wou lobster. on the way back, racing with a gt3rs, we come to a grinding halt against a wall of traffic... damn, must be an accident, haram hadan met.
then we hear gunfire... they're coming! run for your lives!
but alas it wasn't that exciting, just the village people of amchit (home of the new president) blocking highways with mid-riffed lebanese girls dishing out beklewa wou mlabbas wou champagna to mark the glorious day. after all it's the lebanese way of celebrating politics ;)





(more photos after the jump)